This year brought some of our most eye-opening and challenging conversations yet. In this Christmas-Eve episode, we’re pulling together the biggest insights from 2025. These aren’t highlights — they’re gold nuggets that could save you money, regret, and years of lost progress.

We revisit the truth about rentvesting, the episode that reshaped how we explain compounding growth, and the surprising risks uncovered through Title Insurance. You’ll also hear our breakdown of the Pain & Gain Report, showing why some properties boom while others stall. These lessons genuinely shifted how first home buyers should approach their decisions.

We unpack what hot markets taught us about buyer behaviour, offer strategy, and staying grounded under pressure. We also revisit powerful coaching moments from our Campfire sessions. These real conversations helped buyers get unstuck and apply the process with clarity.

Whether you’re planning to buy in early 2026 or trying to make sense of the market, this episode distils what truly matters. You’ll learn how to think long-term, reduce risk, and choose assets with confidence. If it saves you even one misstep, every conversation this year has been worth it.

Episode Highlights

00:00 — Introduction and Podcast Highlights

00:38 — Welcome to Your First Home Buyer Guide

01:23 — Reflecting on Key Lessons

02:14 — Rentvesting Insights

03:20 — Understanding Title Insurance

05:36 — The Power of Compounding Growth

08:54 — CoreLogic Pain and Gain Report

13:24 — Navigating Offers in Hot Markets

16:00 — Understanding the Home Buying Process

16:48 — Exclusive Campfire Coaching Sessions

18:40 — Mindset and Media Influence

20:34 — Navigating Home Buyer Blues

23:49 — Making the Right Compromises

26:08 — Learning from Disaster Stories

27:18 — Engaging with the Community

28:38 — Year-End Reflections and Holiday Wishes

Mentions

1. Episode 205 — Rentvesting: What You Need to Know Before Taking the Leap
2. Episode 207 — How Rentvesting Can Secure—or Sabotage—Your Financial Future
3. Episode 211 — What Tax Benefits Can First-Home Buyers Gain from Rentvesting?
4. Episode 212 — What Happens When Due Diligence Isn’t Enough?
5. Episode 218 — The Magic of Compounding—Why It’s a Game-Changer for Property Owners
6. Episode 225 — Inside Australia’s Riskiest Property Types According to New Data
7. Episode 226 — How First Home Buyers Can Keep Up in a Hot Property Market
8. Episode 230 — Inside a Real Coaching Call That Transforms First Home Buyers
9. Episode 239 — Fix the Habits, Change the Game: What It Really Takes to Buy Your First Home
10. Episode 241 — Stuck & Ready to Quit? How to Beat Home Buyer Blues
11. Episode 250 — Win Without Overpaying: The Offer Process Explained
12. Episode 251 — Why Your First Offer Probably Won’t Win — And That’s Okay
13. Episode 252 — Are You Being Too Picky For Your Own Good?
14. Episode 254 — When to Walk Away: The Art of Saying No to the Wrong Property
15. Episode 258 — Why Young Buyers Aren’t Giving Up — They’re Getting Strategic

Course Details:

1. THE First Home Buyer Course is our Step-By-Step, No BS Guide to Every Stage of The Home Buying Process – It’s the next best thing to having your own buyer’s agent. With our expert guidance, you’ll know what to do at every step along the way. Become a home owner faster and easier. Click here: https://homebuyeracademy.com.au/YFHBG

If you enjoyed today’s podcast, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the show! There’s more to come, so we hope to have you along with us on this journey!

1. Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFirstHomeBuyerCourse
2. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/your-first-home-buyer-guide-podcast/id1544701825
3. Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7GyrfXoqvDxjqNRv40NVQs?si=7c8bc4362fab421f

HBA 260

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[00:00:00] Veronica: this year, our podcast episodes have contained some absolute gold moments that have stopped us in our tracks and made us rethink what first home buyers really need to hear.

[00:00:09] Veronica: We are [00:00:10] pulling back the curtain on the insights that surprised us, challenged us, and genuinely shifted the way we teach you how to buy your first

[00:00:17] Veronica: property.

[00:00:17] Meighan: Now, these aren't just fluffy highlights. They're [00:00:20] gold nuggets that could save you money, stress, and rookie regret. If you want the fast tracked version of 2000. And 20 fives most powerful lessons.

[00:00:29] Meighan: You're in the right [00:00:30] place. It is our Christmas gift to you. Happy holidays.

[00:00:33] ​

[00:00:38] Speaker: Welcome to [00:00:40] your first home buyer. Guide the podcast for first home buyers who want to feel confident, smart, and totally in control of their property journey. I'm Veronica, and that was Megan. And yes, we [00:00:50] are probably old enough to be your mom's, which is a good thing because between us, we've got decades of experience and we've got your back every step of the way.

[00:00:59] Speaker 2: Our [00:01:00] mission to cut through the Bs, keep it real, and make sure you are buying smarter, not stressing harder. Quick heads up. We've created the First Home Buyer course, our [00:01:10] step-by-step program to help you buy your first place with confidence and without the costly mistakes. The links in the show notes, but stick with us first.

[00:01:18] Speaker: You'll wanna hear this episode. [00:01:20] I.

[00:01:20] ​

[00:01:23] Veronica: The reason we are sharing these moments with you in this episode is because they remind us of why we do [00:01:30] this whole thing in the first place. Every insight, every surprise, every tough lesson is about helping first home buyers

[00:01:36] Veronica: avoid

[00:01:36] Veronica: the traps that we've seen far too many fall into. And [00:01:40] in this episode, you'll get distilled takeaways that genuinely move the needle, clearer decisions, smarter strategies, fewer costly mistakes.

[00:01:47] Veronica: And if we can save you even one misstep[00:01:50]

[00:01:50] Veronica: on

[00:01:50] Veronica: your buying journey that.

[00:01:51] Veronica: Every

[00:01:51] Veronica: conversation that we've had this year has been worth it.

[00:01:53] Meighan: Absolutely. Now, in a way, it's kind of like step five in the PACE system. Remember pace, it's [00:02:00] preparation,

[00:02:01] Meighan: action, commitment, execute. And step five is revise and correct. Now it's not that we're correcting here. No, not at all. We're [00:02:10] reflecting on what's been really great and packaging it up so you can hit the ground running in 2026.

[00:02:15] Veronica: we started the year with the final episode in our Rent [00:02:20] Festing series. We started at the end of 2024. We, moved over the,border, if you like, from one to the other. We did that rent vesting series and it was really good we really took time to unpack and pull [00:02:30] out the pros and cons.

[00:02:31] Veronica: Who should be thinking about it, who shouldn't be thinking about it. And I think fundamentally, you know, why I particularly think this is great

[00:02:38] Veronica: is because we learned that [00:02:40] while rent vesting might look like a clever shortcut. In some cases can actually pull you further away from your dream of owning a home.

[00:02:46] Veronica: So you have to be careful, once you've bought an investment first, not just [00:02:50] your cash flow, but your borrowing capacity gets tied up, making it harder to secure the loan you'll eventually need for your own place. So while the strategy can work, it can just as easily box you in if you haven't [00:03:00] thought through the long-term consequences. So we're particularly proud of those episodes.

[00:03:03] Meighan: and Veronica there episodes 2 0 5, 2 0 7 and two 11, so go and check those ones out. If you're thinking [00:03:10] about possibly rent vesting, even if you're not learn about it, you know, knowledge is power. You might be at a barbecue and wanna share some of this information with somebody else, and you can come at it

[00:03:17] Meighan: from

[00:03:17] Meighan: a point of having.

[00:03:19] Meighan: Reliable

[00:03:19] Meighan: [00:03:20] information, not just from TikTok. Now We learned about a little known insurance product called Title Insurance. Now, Veronica and I, you've been in business for a very long time. well over 50 [00:03:30] years, but. This is a real eyeopener for us and it's,changed how we recommend things in our, company. You can, and You should do a lot of due diligence before buying a property, and we [00:03:40] teach you how to do that in the course.

[00:03:41] Meighan: Now, that is going to give you a lot of protection. It's gonna manage a lot of your risks, but sometimes it's actually impossible to discover [00:03:50] everything. title

[00:03:50] Veronica: so this was episode 212, right? We interviewed somebody from a title insurance company and they went through all these examples of things that where you think you're buying. [00:04:00] You know, something in a house or apartment or whatever, you think you're buying a certain land size, you think you've got access to, I don't know, the rear lane or whatever it is, things that you think [00:04:10] you are buying.

[00:04:11] Veronica: And even with all the best due diligence in the world, sometimes there are hidden traps, which is really scary, but. The fact is insurance policy called [00:04:20] Title Insurance and it's something that we'd heard about both in our businesses and you know, you getvague answers 'cause not everyone seems to know about it and it's not even that expensive, but there are times when it, [00:04:30] I think it would be really appropriate and we certainly advise it more in our business as well that people consider it. So I would say it's definitely not a catch all safety net, but it certainly can [00:04:40] cover some nasty surprises like illegal structures. Boundary issues or even fraud at, sometimes it's a backup plan, not a substitute for doing the work before you buy, but we certainly can see a lot of [00:04:50] cases where it's worth considering.

[00:04:51] Veronica: And if you wanna find it more, as I said, it's episode 212 and it's just one of those things that we think a lot of first home buyers have no idea about, and it'd be really useful to

[00:04:59] Veronica: [00:05:00] understand.

[00:05:00] Meighan: Great.

[00:05:01] Meighan: And guess the thing about title insurance is, you know, sometimes when we're buying a property in Brisbane, somebody might have added on a deck or a carport or

[00:05:09] Meighan: something

[00:05:09] Meighan: like [00:05:10] that. And if you are, you're very, you know, you need to move really quickly. Sometimes there's not enough time to get council search searches back to see if those structures are approved.

[00:05:18] Meighan: And

[00:05:18] Meighan: what title insurance [00:05:20] can do in certain circumstances

[00:05:22] Meighan: is

[00:05:22] Meighan: if those structures aren't approved and council issues, you a show cause notice, which basically says get it approved or pull it down, then title [00:05:30] insurance is possibly

[00:05:31] Meighan: the

[00:05:31] Meighan: thing that will help you, solve that problem. great examples in that episode of how specific examples of where Tyler Insurance has been able to [00:05:40] help. definitely

[00:05:40] Veronica: And then there's the

[00:05:41] Veronica: episode that might, just be

[00:05:42] Veronica: one of my favorite of all time. The magic of compounding. this came about because I was doing a presentation to, it was a [00:05:50] uni group of sort of the property club in one of the, actually one of the unis I went to at UNSW, and I was invited to go and do it, Give a presentation to them and I thought, look, I really wanna go to the fundamentals of [00:06:00] property. And I, and

[00:06:00] Veronica: so I, sort of pulled apart and I went back to basics. And by going back to basics though, it actually has totally reinvigorated the way I think about capital growth. Right. So [00:06:10] absolutely changed the way I think about that and investing as well as how important this concept is to grasp for first home buyers.

[00:06:16] Veronica: be compounding. really takes some brainpower to force us out of [00:06:20] our tendency for short-term thinking. You know, we know it works mathematically, but it still seems absolutely improbable that you could buy a property at the age of 30 and if you held onto it until [00:06:30] you were 70, if you bought the right type of asset, it could potentially be worth a whopping 16 times what you paid for it. But the most of that gain is in the final 10 [00:06:40] years, and it's just when you actually see that in a chart, is mind blowing. You think that can't be possible, but it actually is.

[00:06:45] Meighan: And I remember in that episode you had a lovely. Analogy, of a, a pond [00:06:50] where, the coverage, doubles each day go back and listen to it. Right? I'm not gonna explain it because that is the beauty of the episode.

[00:06:57] Veronica: There's caveat's really about

[00:06:58] Veronica: not every property is [00:07:00] gonna go up at the same rate. Like the example I gave was where it doubles every 10 years.

[00:07:03] Veronica: whereas if you don't buy a good asset. You know, Look, there's caveats, of course, because not every property [00:07:10] will double in value every 10 years. Like that example I just gave you, but. Potentially if you buy a good asset, it can. I mean, there's certainly properties that we've bought for clients.

[00:07:18] Veronica: We have demonstrated [00:07:20] that they've been, had the potential to do that. Some properties, if you don't buy good assets, they don't grow at that rate. And so the thing with compounding as, well is that, over performer will just [00:07:30] grow so much faster than an underperformer. So it's really important that you understand compounding. It's So

[00:07:36] Veronica: fundamental to good. Property decisions, so go back and listen to that [00:07:40] episodes 2000, sorry, two, 2,218,

[00:07:43] Meighan: We learned that compounding is brutally simple, but it's actually really powerful and most first home buyers completely [00:07:50] underestimate how much time

[00:07:51] Meighan: is

[00:07:52] Meighan: actually their biggest asset. Even small, early growth can snowball into serious gains when you buy really well,So we go back to [00:08:00] that. You know, the caveats about compounding growth.

[00:08:02] Meighan: You've

[00:08:02] Meighan: got to buy, well, a good quality property and hold it long enough. I'm gonna throw something in here to say, if you buy the [00:08:10] wrong asset and you become aware that it's the wrong asset, then you've got to be prepared to revise and correct even after you've bought the property and make a tough decision to get [00:08:20] rid of that property

[00:08:21] Meighan: and

[00:08:21] Meighan: reinvest into a good quality one.

[00:08:23] Meighan: So if you find that you are in something that's growing at 3% when everything else is growing at 8%. Have a really good and [00:08:30] talk to an advisor that can tell you, do that benchmark marking for you. Do the actual analysis of the property, not just an agent, but a, property advisor who can help you make decisions about [00:08:40] whether to let go of an underperforming asset, because if it's the wrong one, you are going to fall further and further behind.

[00:08:46] Meighan: it's also why when you buy really well and you hold for long enough. [00:08:50] Delaying the start is not smart. You actually have to move forward and make a smart purchase. Delay will cost you more than you actually think. Particularly in a rising market, the magic [00:09:00] isn't chasing the perfect suburb. It isn't chasing the perfect house. It is getting into a quality asset

[00:09:05] Meighan: early

[00:09:05] Meighan: enough for compounding to

[00:09:06] Meighan: actually Absolutely. Now another thing, this is one of my favorite things to talk [00:09:10] about is the pain and gain report. So every quarter, CoreLogic. Now it's called ality. They bring out. This report, which tracks how many properties have been sold over the [00:09:20] previous quarter in Australia that sold at a loss versus sold at a gain.

[00:09:23] Veronica: And the reason I love this report

[00:09:26] Veronica: is because it reminds us that people can [00:09:30] lose money with property. And I think if you have that healthy fear, that healthy awareness it can be dangerous if you do make poor decisions. that.

[00:09:39] Veronica: just that [00:09:40] sobering reminder that we need to take this seriously. We need to do the work, which is why we put together the course over the 10 steps to teach you the process to buy well, because, there's

[00:09:49] Veronica: evidence out [00:09:50] there that certain segments of the market will lose more money than others. Certain types of property will lose money more than others. And this is the evidence, this is the sort

[00:09:58] Veronica: of thing that we wanna [00:10:00] remind you to be, clear of, you know, when there are, so there's definite red flags.

[00:10:03] Veronica: you know, we don't review every single pain and gain report. this was when we reviewed the one that was done for the December 24 [00:10:10] quarter. But I just find this fascinating and what, cause it's not only what loses money, but what is inclined to make more money as well.

[00:10:18] Veronica: So there's lots of lessons in there.

[00:10:19] Meighan: Now [00:10:20] that's episode 2 25. I'm gonna throw in there that a lot has changed since we did that episode and we in the past, so going [00:10:30] back from even, early this year and prior to that, have not been big fans of two bed, two bath apartments in large cookie cutter style complexes. And we have [00:10:40] given many, many examples ofproperties that have been purchased brand new off the planet.

[00:10:44] Meighan: They have gone backwards in, in value the pain and gain report certainly points out a number of those in different [00:10:50] areas. This year we've seen an absolute anomaly of, those types of units

[00:10:54] Meighan: the price gains around those properties because

[00:10:57] Meighan: of a lack of any other options for

[00:10:59] Meighan: people to [00:11:00]

[00:11:00] Veronica: So this is in Brisbane. 'cause it hasn't been the same everywhere else.

[00:11:05] Meighan: Oh, good point. Yeah, so there, there are some locations, but Brisbane in particular, [00:11:10] those prices have just skyrocketed. So just remember things can change. And from what we talked about as examples of, styles

[00:11:18] Meighan: of properties and property types that didn't do [00:11:20] well,

[00:11:20] Meighan: they're going through the roof at the moment because of a lack of any

[00:11:22] Meighan: other

[00:11:23] Veronica: that's, you know, and

[00:11:24] Veronica: this is why listen to the episode 'cause we do dig into this sort of, notions of scarcityand [00:11:30] a number of other things that play into why people might lose money on property. sometimes

[00:11:34] Veronica: it's 'cause they sell too quickly. They

[00:11:37] Veronica: don't give, the market is just not in their favor and they sell too quickly. [00:11:40] Sometimes it's 'cause they bought a poor asset and it's really never gonna make money.but interestingly enough, in that particular quarter, 5.2% of all properties sell is sold for a loss. But in one market segment, [00:11:50] a

[00:11:50] Veronica: whopping 36.7% sold at a loss. And that was the inner city Melbourne unit market. so. Things can change. in Brisbane, for [00:12:00] example, what, Megan's talking about is for a decade there was a massive oversupply. And so those properties just languished, but then there's an undersupply. 'cause there just hasn't been those buildings being built. And, in Melbourne [00:12:10] it's a bit different.

[00:12:10] Veronica: It's actually cheaper to construct. In Melbourne, they've got different economy. They don't have an Olympics that they're trying to build for. There's a whole bunch of things that lead to different markets performing different ways. So we just,love [00:12:20] that. I love it. It's just, I say it's my favorite report mainly.

[00:12:23] Veronica: 'cause I, I do, I sound like I skew negative all the time. I'm a positive, negative person. Like I'm actually an optimist, but I'm a realistic [00:12:30] optimist. And what I like about this is good sobering, report that

[00:12:34] Veronica: reminds us that property isn't all good. And if you go to a lot of barbecues as first home [00:12:40] buyers, you get so many people saying, you just gotta get on the ladder.

[00:12:42] Veronica: Just gotta get on the ladder.

[00:12:43] Veronica: And

[00:12:43] Veronica: so we we're always.Careful to exert caution so you get on safely, and this is just one of those reports [00:12:50] that reminds us that it's not always safe. So that's episode 2 25, as Megan mentioned earlier.

[00:12:55] Meighan: not only the barbecues,

[00:12:57] Meighan: Veronica, it's social media. I mean, if you [00:13:00] start looking at just one or two ads from, buyer's agents or property advisors or any of those kind of property related things, you're going to be bombarded with a [00:13:10] whole lot of content that tells you how easy it is to make money,

[00:13:13] Meighan: how

[00:13:13] Meighan: much money other people have made outta property, and, and

[00:13:16] Meighan: how somebody has the golden ticket to how, you [00:13:20] can build wealth.

[00:13:21] Meighan: So you actually are getting bombarded from whole lot of different, and you've got to have that healthy skepticism to say, is this right for me? Is this really ringing [00:13:30] true? Or are they using one example? And they're not talking about the 12 examples that actually lost money during that time. So healthy skepticism is really good.

[00:13:38] Meighan: Analysis paralysis not so good. [00:13:40] I'm gonna talk about that a little bit later. Now we did a whole series on offers. Now offers can take a whole range of, offers fall into step nine, which is [00:13:50] part of execution, and that is negotiate an auction. So we did quite a bit around the offer process

[00:13:56] Meighan: and though that series looked at in episode 2 26, we [00:14:00] looked at how to make offers in hot markets.

[00:14:02] Meighan: 'cause it's really different

[00:14:03] Meighan: to

[00:14:04] Meighan: how to make offers

[00:14:05] Veronica: Yeah, and I mean, you've been dealing with it for a couple of years up in Brisbane. This is hot, hot, hot,

[00:14:09] Meighan: [00:14:10] Veronica,

[00:14:10] Meighan: I'm gonna, tell you on Saturday we went to four auctions and we were only successful at one. and we are pretty good with our pricing. We're pretty good with indexation.

[00:14:19] Meighan: We

[00:14:19] Meighan: are [00:14:20] pretty good with preparing our clients, but people paid a hundred, $150,000 more than what we could see as a premium

[00:14:28] Veronica: Yeah, we, I remember

[00:14:29] Veronica: back to [00:14:30] 2021. That's the last time we experienced that in Sydney, and I'm sure we're gonna experience it again at some point.I won't say.

[00:14:35] Veronica: exactly

[00:14:35] Veronica: when, although I will,sort of say that we are starting to see the foundation [00:14:40] underneath our markets sort of building up a little bit.

[00:14:42] Veronica: So 2026 might be an interesting market for Sydney, but different markets have different conditions. you guys have been weathering that storm for years now, and it's,[00:14:50] exhausting.

[00:14:51] Meighan: It is been late 2000 that things really

[00:14:54] Veronica: exhausting. We had five years of that back in 20

[00:14:57] Veronica: 20 13 to 2017. That's that sort of [00:15:00] five year period. It was absolutely exhausting. and it's exhausting for buyers. A lot of people give up, but there are things that you can do under those circumstances because that's why we did the episode. Because it's like, [00:15:10] don't give up and don't just throw the kitchen sink at it either.

[00:15:12] Meighan: And don't rebound to a property. We

[00:15:15] Meighan: had a, we, you had a great example recently of, people who had missed out on an auction, then went, went, [00:15:20] and bought at another auction, and they hadn't done any due diligence, but they just went, We missed out. We need to go now. I'll follow up.

[00:15:26] Meighan: Those three properties that we missed out on Saturday, we've since then gone on to [00:15:30] purchase, as good. they're investors, so not as, particular as owner occupiers,

[00:15:34] Meighan: but

[00:15:34] Meighan: that was private treaty and we were able to work with the agent to get that across. But markets are. Really, as [00:15:40] you say, they are exhausting, they are frustrating.

[00:15:44] Meighan: It is sometimes, our clients are ready to give up and just go, come on. You just stick to the plan.

[00:15:48] Meighan: You've

[00:15:49] Meighan: got a plan. This is about the [00:15:50] long term. This is not the short term. And remember, one of our, home Buyer Academy property principles is don't let the process of the negotiation impact your decision to buy a property.

[00:15:58] Meighan: Sometimes [00:16:00] negotiations are difficult. Don't just walk away because of it. So it is having that long-term thinking in a hot market.

[00:16:05] Veronica: then we did two episodes 250 and 251. And 250 [00:16:10] was the offer process explained, and 2 51 was why your first offer won't always win. Very rarely win, in fact. And I guess what we wanted to really get. Across here. Well, [00:16:20] partly those are

[00:16:21] Veronica: prompted by Facebook questions. We just get lots of questions around, you know, the offer process.

[00:16:27] Veronica: And you can just see that people are blind if they [00:16:30] don't do the course and learn the process, right? this is a process, right? If you learn the process,

[00:16:36] Veronica: if you do everything in the right order, you will find it a hell of a lot [00:16:40] easier. It's still not gonna be easy. You are gonna find it easier 'cause you will know what you're doing.

[00:16:45] Veronica: You won't be running blind and you won't be sort of panicking that why

[00:16:48] Veronica: hasn't the agent got back to [00:16:50] me? Why don't they do you know, is that other bar real? All that sort of stuff that goes through your head.

[00:16:55] Meighan: Do I have to sign a contract now or later? When does the solicitor check the [00:17:00] contract? What do you mean? I, has to be subject to finance. What does that mean? Like all of these sorts of things are, there are answers to them and there is a process, and in each state it's different. [00:17:10] So it's important to know what's relevant in your state before you start

[00:17:13] Meighan: throwing

[00:17:13] Meighan: around offers and ideas.

[00:17:14] Meighan: alright, the next episode, that is one of a highlight for me anyway, hopefully for you two. Megan, although you weren't in on [00:17:20] this one,

[00:17:20] Meighan: I weren't, I wasn't in

[00:17:21] Meighan: there. I had no

[00:17:22] Veronica: Sorry. we do campfire every Wednesday for our students right now. Sometimes a whole bunch of them turns up [00:17:30] every now and then. There's only one, right?

[00:17:32] Veronica: Just think about it. you do our course, and you get access to either Megan or myself for, I don't, half an hour, sometimes even 45 [00:17:40] minutes. we do that. I mean, I would charge a lot of money.

[00:17:43] Veronica: you know, if you're gonna do a one-to-one strategy session with me is a bit more than half the cost of the course, right? So every now and then when there's [00:17:50] just one person turns up to campfire, which does happen on the odd occasion. And he had such good questions. He really came prepared.

[00:17:57] Veronica: He had a whole list of questions, had a whole [00:18:00] scenario, and I went, you know what? Can I record this? Because we are gonna take you through, step by step, through all these things that you need to be thinking about, referring to the process, referring to the, you know, the parts in the [00:18:10] course that he'd learn. and. Then at the end of it, I went, this is so good that we are going to release it as a podcast episode. So if you wanna hear.

[00:18:18] Veronica: A real [00:18:20] life campfire coaching call, which is one to one. We don't do them very often. I think we've done two in the last couple of years, right? Then that's episode 230. Check it out.

[00:18:29] Veronica: You'll get a [00:18:30] sense for the real value you get, and even when there's a lot of people turn up for campfire, everyone gets a chance to ask their questions and everyone gets great value out of it. So that's [00:18:40] 230 episode 230. Check it out.

[00:18:42] Meighan: we always survey our students when they've completed the.

[00:18:45] Meighan: Course and completed the purchase. And it's certainly one of the things that comes up [00:18:50] as the greatest, value for money.

[00:18:52] Meighan: the course is Value for Money, but the campfire sessions is where people say they really get the greatest value because it is, we are looking at their unique situation [00:19:00] and helping them apply the theory to the real world, um,and giving them some tips.

[00:19:03] Meighan: So yeah, really enjoy Campfire and we do that every week. Now. We did two episodes on Mindset, which is. My [00:19:10] favorite space to be in. and it's really inspired by our campfire sessions. The first one was episode 2 39, which was Healthy Home by Habits and Mindset. Now, this [00:19:20] is really about.

[00:19:22] Meighan: Don't let the media talk you out of buying.

[00:19:25] Meighan: it's really about sometimes getting hold of the things that are right for you to listen [00:19:30] to and getting rid of the things that are wrong for you to listen to. And we are in an environment where we hear all sorts of things on the news about

[00:19:38] Meighan: how hard it is to buy [00:19:40] a home, how prices are out of reach, you know, how

[00:19:42] Meighan: first home buyers are packing up and going overseas 'cause they'll

[00:19:45] Veronica: How,baby? Is STO your future?

[00:19:48] Meighan: Yes. [00:19:50] Yeah. but in this episode, it's really about getting a really good mindset around this, listening to the right people, bringing in the right information to your own [00:20:00] situation, and getting yourself on the right

[00:20:01] Meighan: track.

[00:20:01] Veronica: And

[00:20:02] Veronica: also just not being defeatist. Like if you listen to all this, oh, you know, we've been priced out. We are never gonna get in there. You know, it's unaffordable, blah, blah, blah. Yes. [00:20:10] It's hard. We're not gonna say it's not hard, you know, but if you believe that negativity, you're not even gonna try.

[00:20:16] Veronica: And if you don't even try, You're absolutely a hundred percent right. You're not gonna succeed. So [00:20:20] it's, really about, okay, how can I succeed? Even though in fact. Two weeks ago we did an episode on the TikTok generation. Right? Which is really, that's episode [00:20:30] 258. So that came in obviously a lot later than 239, which is what we're talking about. The minute, you know, it's 21 episodes earlier, but really it shows that a lot of, [00:20:40] you know, millennials and Gen Zs, they're not taking this negativity that's sort of. Out there in the general public, and they're not saying, they're not being told what to do. They're going, you know [00:20:50] what? We are gonna find our way to do it. So there is a positivity out there and we wanna encourage more of you if you are sort of starting to get a bit down at hill over it and starting to believe, you know, the rhetoric. It's [00:21:00] not necessarily true. then leading into that is episode 241, which was around beating the home buyer blues because.

[00:21:07] Veronica: Once

[00:21:08] Veronica: you're out there, and even if [00:21:10] you've got yourself to the position where you are able to buy a property, sometimes the process is grueling. You know, we talked about making offers in a hot market, you know, and missing out on auctions, and, [00:21:20] Having your offers rejected or having other buyers. Pay more money

[00:21:23] Veronica: seeing

[00:21:23] Veronica: prices rise faster than you can save. that is really hard to deal with in some markets. And so we are [00:21:30] really, this episode 2 41 was about keeping on how to not get despondent, let disappointment get the better of you.

[00:21:36] Veronica: keep the faith, but also.

[00:21:37] Veronica: Practical things to do, how [00:21:40] to pivot, how to,adjust your search and your expectations.

[00:21:43] Veronica: How what to do next and how to do it quickly so that you don't

[00:21:47] Veronica: fall

[00:21:47] Veronica: further beyond the market. So that was a really [00:21:50] important

[00:21:50] Veronica: episode.

[00:21:50] Meighan: Yeah,

[00:21:51] Meighan: And it's really hard to ignore what's going on out uh, particularly, I, know most of the people who are going to tune and listen Probably going to get a lot of their [00:22:00] information from social media, and you'll have your own sources that you either trust or don't trust. it's really hard to block out the negativity, but beating the home buyer blues wasn't [00:22:10] about, just pushing on regardless.

[00:22:11] Meighan: It was actually about the revising. Correct. and really thinking about, all right, well, if I'm not being successful. Now in what [00:22:20] I'm doing, what is it that I need to change? And as you say, that pivot is the most important part of that because the last thing you wanna do is throw your hands up. I've got a client that we just purchased for at auction [00:22:30] on Sunday.

[00:22:30] Meighan: It was the successful auction, not first home buyers. However, they first signed up with us in 2014 and it was their first, [00:22:40] property that they were going to buy so they got so nervous about, we got very close on a property and there was a few thousand dollars in it. And I'm talking about a budget of about [00:22:50] $500,000 back then. And they pulled the pin and we talked it over and they just decided that it wasn't the right time for them. They were going to wait. So we're talking about[00:23:00] $500,000 back then. I

[00:23:01] Meighan: got the phone call from them about two months ago to say,

[00:23:04] Meighan: Megan,

[00:23:05] Meighan: the biggest regret of our life is not going ahead. We could afford it. We just got [00:23:10] cold feet and it's the biggest regret of our life because we now know what that property would've been worth, and we are just gonna bite the bullet and do this.

[00:23:17] Meighan: We are going to follow the advice. Money's in [00:23:20] play, and it took us two weeks. They've purchased.

[00:23:22] Meighan: Now

[00:23:22] Meighan: they've had to purchase at 1.2 for a very similar property than they could've. Bought back then for

[00:23:27] Meighan: 500.but it's a very [00:23:30] big lesson and, and I'm starting to use it a lot more now because their regret was real and they are more towards our end of life than most of our first home buyer [00:23:40] listeners.

[00:23:40] Meighan: So they've got a shorter runway,to work with. You've probably got a bigger runway, and I greatly encourage you, if you're in a financial position, don't get the home buyer blues and pull the pin [00:23:50] and

[00:23:50] Veronica: Oh wow. That's such a

[00:23:51] Meighan: It took them

[00:23:52] Meighan: a long time to revise and

[00:23:53] Veronica: it's painful and some people do lick

[00:23:54] Veronica: their wounds for a long time.

[00:23:56] Meighan: They're very happy now they've decided to put it behind them. They can't do anything [00:24:00] about the decisions they didn't make before,

[00:24:01] Meighan: but

[00:24:02] Meighan: they've now made good decisions

[00:24:03] Meighan: and

[00:24:03] Veronica: that's very real. I mean, 'cause time is what shows in property, you know, like, that's the thing. This is why we, we, like to help [00:24:10] you make really good decisions now that you're gonna thank yourself in the future. Time is what tells, and there's just a lot of misinformation

[00:24:17] Veronica: as well, and there's just a lot competing for [00:24:20] attention in the short term. There were two episodes we did on Compromises. These are also sparked by conversations in Campfire.

[00:24:27] Veronica: The first one was really an episode [00:24:30] about being too picky,

[00:24:31] Meighan: You know the one you walk in, you go, I really

[00:24:33] Meighan: don't

[00:24:33] Veronica: like the wallpaper.

[00:24:34] Meighan: the carpet

[00:24:36] Meighan: looks.

[00:24:37] Veronica: Yeah, what not to be too picky over. [00:24:40] And one of the things that sparked this was when somebody in camp, I think it was Louisa, one of our students had sort of said, well, you tell us we should be looking by a grade properties. So it just like, no, I'm just [00:24:50] rejecting everything else. Whoa.

[00:24:51] Veronica: Actually what we talking about is perfectly imperfect So it's very important to get over being too picky.

[00:24:58] Veronica: because if you don't, [00:25:00] then. you

[00:25:00] Veronica: could end up in 11 years time not having bought.

[00:25:02] Meighan: It's

[00:25:03] Meighan: the right compromises. it's working out those three Ps which we teach. Position, property, price, working out the right compromises for [00:25:10] you, and then not making decisions that take

[00:25:12] Meighan: you off path from the right compromises. and, Compromising on the right things

[00:25:16] Meighan: Because

[00:25:16] Meighan: if you compromise on the right things, then you can fix them. [00:25:20] If you're compromis on the wrong things, you can't fix them.and that's really what not being too picky is about.

[00:25:24] Meighan: And then we,talked about when to walk away. We almost did the opposite, in [00:25:30] 254. And that was, very purposeful. We wanted to make sure that when you say, don't be too picky, it doesn't mean just accept anything. it actually means be as astute

[00:25:38] Meighan: in your, critical [00:25:40] analysis of the property and your due diligence in your assessment of potential to, for

[00:25:43] Meighan: capital growth. 'cause capital growth matters. It's one of our principles. Know when to walk away. Know when it's either

[00:25:49] Meighan: [00:25:50] the

[00:25:50] Meighan: wrong price, when it's got the wrong set of compromises, whatever it is.

[00:25:53] Meighan: If it's on a main road and that's your compromise and you decide, well yeah, I'm gonna do that, but you can't fix the [00:26:00] road noise with double glazing, then it might be a walk away. main

[00:26:03] Meighan: roads

[00:26:03] Veronica: No, we don't love them.

[00:26:04] Meighan: but it might be yours. and there'll be long-term impacts of that, but

[00:26:07] Meighan: working

[00:26:08] Meighan: out when to walk away [00:26:10] when the perfectly imperfect is just too imperfect.

[00:26:12] Veronica: Now as well as all of those, our sort of highlights and our favorite moments through the year in our podcast episodes, we've done [00:26:20] the usual, which are student case. Studies. You know, we love it when a student not

[00:26:24] Veronica: only buys, but is willing to tell their story. 'cause some of them are super shy, but some of them are not.

[00:26:29] Veronica: [00:26:30] So, um, you know, shout out for, there's a number. There's Louisa, James, Dana, Sandeep. I mean, there's, they're the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. so thank you to you and thank you for doing the course, and thank you [00:26:40] for sharing your story. the disaster stories, you know, I love a disaster story.

[00:26:45] Meighan: Yeah, well, we've got a few of those

[00:26:46] Meighan: and often they come out of the traditional media, or [00:26:50] even social media, but they're often, stories where people have, either missed something in their process or haven't had the right guidance or there's been [00:27:00] something and, and, you know, I really feel for all of these.

[00:27:02] Meighan: People. But the reason that we do these. episodes, Veronica, is to make sure that we are sharing the knowledge and the lesson for people [00:27:10] who are

[00:27:10] Meighan: going through the process, being first time buyers before they make the mistake themselves. So it's, aboutthe learning that you can get from these disaster stories,

[00:27:18] Veronica: That's the sad thing [00:27:20] for us. We look at it and we go, oh, if they just done that and that, or done it in different order. We can see that their outcome would've been so different, and that is quite heartbreaking, to be honest. [00:27:30] I say I love a disaster story, but it's more because I just love the forensic, you know, the forensic activity to go in there and go to deconstruct what appears to have happened and to reconstruct

[00:27:39] Veronica: it in a [00:27:40] way that it really and ideally should have happened.

[00:27:42] Veronica: And like Megan was saying, these mistakes

[00:27:43] Veronica: that didn't need to be made, and they have consequences, and so we want to avoid you. Getting into one of those [00:27:50] situations, which is why we don't do those stories.

[00:27:52] Meighan: Yeah. And then we've got the Facebook questions, and these come out of our private Facebook group. some

[00:27:56] Meighan: members put questions in, and they're always answered by,

[00:27:59] Meighan: [00:28:00] our team because it's important that we're sharing reliable information, so they're not so much peer answered questions. They are answered by us, and the information is shared with everybody [00:28:10] within the private Facebook group.

[00:28:11] Meighan: So if you haven't joined, jump on, no cost, of course.but you can have access to these questions andmany more that are posted in there. But what's really [00:28:20] interesting about these Veronica, is often the questions are ones that. Many first time buyers have, not just the person. And sometimes the question starts with, it might be a silly question, and usually, [00:28:30] you know, another number of other people go, yeah, I hadn't really thought about that.

[00:28:33] Meighan: What do I do in that situation? So even sharing your own questions, can help other people, the

[00:28:39] Veronica: Hundred [00:28:40] percent. And remember though, the best answers always begin with depends when you get those out of the box, black and white answers.you know, we did actually do an episode on [00:28:50] myths, which I didn't actually include in here.but you know, you, get those out of the box answers that this is black and white, you should always do this or should always do that, they're the answers to absolutely steer [00:29:00] clear of anybody who's too certain around anything in property generally doesn't know enough to be certain.

[00:29:05] Meighan: Oh, they're

[00:29:05] Meighan: pushing an

[00:29:06] Veronica: That too. Yeah. They're trying to sell

[00:29:07] Veronica: something else. so remember, [00:29:10] that's why we say the best answers always begin with depends. So that is our Christmas gift to you this year. Our highlight's real, if you like, from the episodes of [00:29:20] 2025. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and, well rested and hit 2026.

[00:29:26] Meighan: And after Christmas, when you're full as a goog and you [00:29:30] don't wanna move off the couch, that's time to go back to our

[00:29:33] Veronica: And yeah, so you can actually listen to them all just bloody by the course. Guys, you know, the first time by a course. If you wanna prepare [00:29:40] yourself best for 2026,

[00:29:41] Veronica: take the downtime, do the course, get yourself ready to launch off and do it well in 2026. All right. Happy Christmas. Happy New Year. All right,

[00:29:49] Meighan: Christmas, [00:29:50] everyone.

[00:29:50] ​

[00:29:50]

[00:30:57] Speaker 4: Thanks for joining us. If you've enjoyed this podcast, we [00:31:00] encourage you to join our Facebook group. It's called Your First Home Buyer Guide Australia, and it's your opportunity to connect with us and ask us your questions, which we will [00:31:10] answer, meaning you can make sure that you are not getting led down the garden path.

[00:31:14] Speaker 4: We hope to see you there soon.